ABSTRACT
De Divortio, written by Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, in 860, is a lengthy discussion of the issues at stake in the marriage of the Lotharingian king, Lothar II, and his wife Theutberga. The first extract describes the accusations against Theutberga. The second extract gives Hincmar's view on the indissolubility of marriage: his view is that while spouses can be separated, this does not free them to remarry. The final extract gives part of Hincmar's discussion of sodomy, defined here in a very broad sense: Hincmar acknowledges but rejects the view that the term refers only to penetrative intercourse between men. Consanguinity is relationship by blood, affinity is relationship by marriage. Goody argues that from the eleventh century onwards, the method used for calculating degrees of kinship was the Germanic, rather than the Roman. Peter Damian's extensive written corpus includes 180 letters, some of which serve as detailed theological treatises. Medieval medicine fails to distinguish between leprosy and venereal disease.
